1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an improvement in an dental implant for mounting an artificial tooth on an alveolar bone.
2. Description of the Relevant Art:
Dental implants comprise a body and a head supported on the body. In use, after the body of a dental implant has been embedded and fixed in a groove defined in an alveolar bone, an artificial tooth is fitted over the head.
Dental implants are available in various types and forms. One of such various implant types is known as a blade type implant. A wide variety of shapes of such blade type implants are described in "Comparative Clinical Implantology 1986-14", pages 14 through 18, and 67 through 83, published by Japan Medical Treatment Cultural Center on June 1, 1986, and "Dental Implants" written by Leonard I. Linkow and published in 1983. Blade type dental implants that have heretofore been proposed include bodies in the form of substantially flat plates with small surface irregularities.
To attach a blade type dental implant to an alveolar bone, a groove having a width and a length which correspond respectively to the thickness and the length of the body of the implant is defined in a portion of the alveolar body, where an artificial tooth is to be mounted, with a dental cutting tool, and then the body is inserted into the groove. Since the process of defining the bone in the alveolar body must be carried out in the patient's mouth, it is difficult to increase the dimensional accuracy of the groove. Inasmuch as the body of a conventional blade type dental implant is composed of a flat plate, the body cannot be firmly anchored in the groove unless the body is dimensionally accurately fitted in the groove. Therefore, a highly skilled technique is needed to firmly secure the dental implant to the alveolar bone without the danger of wobbling movement. For this reason, general dentists have not practiced much of dental implantation.